Episode 31: Can AI Really Have a ‘Self’?

In this episode of AI Ignited, host Elif Baser sits down with guest Ceylin Duru Akaydin to explore one of the most fascinating questions at the intersection of psychology and technology: Can artificial intelligence develop something like personality, identity, or even morality? Drawing on insights from the Big Five personality model, Jung’s introversion-extroversion, Erikson’s identity theory, and Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, the conversation unpacks whether AI is just simulating trait—or if it’s edging toward a digital “self.”Along the way, Elif and Ceylin highlight cutting-edge research from MIT, Stanford, DeepMind, Tokyo University, and Carnegie Mellon on how humans perceive machine personalities and even form emotional bonds with them. From extroverted chatbots to moral algorithms, this episode asks: What happens when the line between human selfhood and machine simulation begins to blur?